Commuters can expect security drills, says NYPD’s Bratton

New York City and Long Island commuters can expect more security drills at major transportation hubs in the coming months as law enforcement officials work to guard against potential terrorist attacks, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said Monday.

Officials from several states and major cities including Washington and Boston — part of a special Northeast Corridor Committee — met Monday in Manhattan to talk about an upcoming series of exercises and security drills, Bratton told reporters.

“We discussed future tabletop exercises, as well as actual drills focused on our transportation centers,” said Bratton, who listed Penn Station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, Grand Central Terminal, the Jamaica rail center and the new World Trade Center transit hub as being among those areas.

Bratton spoke to reporters after the meeting of private and public security officials at police headquarters where they received a briefing on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, an overview of the Orlando attack and recent attacks on law enforcement officers in Europe.

“The idea today was to expand on our conversations about how to protect those locations,” the police commissioner said.

The meeting also continued discussions on security issues raised by the 2004 Madrid and 2005 London transit bombings, which killed scores of people, Bratton said, although he didn’t elaborate.